John Calipari‘s decision to leave Kentucky for Arkansas spawned rumors that the Wildcats will make a run at Bulls head coach Billy Donovan. However, it would be a complicated process if he had any interest in returning to the college ranks, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago notes.
Donovan is under contract for two more years with the Bulls, and he’s held in high regard by not only management but ownership, says Johnson. Donovan, who won back-to-back championships at Florida, has often talked about how much he enjoys coaching in the NBA.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times also casts doubt on the idea of Donovan taking the Kentucky job. A source told him on Tuesday that there has been no communication between the school and the Bulls’ head coach.
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Bulls are locked into the 9-10 play-in tournament matchup with the Hawks but DeMar DeRozan believes his team needs to finish strong, Cowley writes. “Yeah, but we’re coming to a point where we can’t play those (down) games, and we’ve got to have that mentality,” DeRozan said. “We can’t switch it on. It’s do or die.” The Bulls play at home against the Knicks tonight, then finish up with a road trip to Detroit, Washington and New York.
- Despite their addition of Damian Lillard prior to the season, the Bucks have consistently looked like a team that’s not having any fun, Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opines. Now they’re stumbling toward the regular season finish line, with the stress of the postseason looming. “Adversity builds character; we have to embrace it,” forward Jae Crowder said. “We can’t shy away from the fact that we just lost six of the last seven. It’s tough days, but at the same time, this is how you build team character. If we come out of this thing on the other side, we’ll be a better group going into the playoffs.”
- Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen believes more All-Star honors will come to him down the road after he didn’t make the team this season, he told Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com. “The guys that got in definitely deserve it,” he said. “Don’t get that wrong. My time will come.”
Jarrett Allen would be definitely be an all star had he gotten used more and not had to share the front court with Mobley. As we have seen, when he’s the single big he puts up ridiculous numbers by himself, while maintaining good rim protection.
End of the day the way to unlock the Cavs will be only having 1 big and they will have to decide against Mobley and Allen. Had you asked me last year I’d say Mobley is your guy and after this season Allen is looking more and more like the guy you can just rely on to do the job.
Mobley plays like a modern 3-4 wing. He has the lateral quickness to cover almost anybody on the perimeter letting Allen do his job protecting the rim. He’s also starting to knock down jumpers from the outside which gives Allen plenty of room to do his thing as a vertical lob threat. The key for the Cavs is allow Allen and Mobley along with Okoro continue to develop. They’ll be fine keeping both.
Jae Crowder said. “We can’t shy away from the fact that we just lost six of the last seven.
Bucks have 15-17 under coach Doc Rivers after going 32-14 before his arrival.
My playoff first round prediction
76ers beat Bucks 4-1
Heat beat Bucls 4-1
Good news is Doc’s team is a winner in the regular season
2nd seed in the standing for the moment.
When Doc coached the 76ers, they are 1 seed.
Bucks have tried to too hard to keep Giannis happy and just went out and took names…
Lillard might have a few offensive explosions but you can tell that team really misses Jrue…
And then Doc… Who has a worse record then the guy he replaced with this team…
I pointed out a couple times early in the season that Dame wasn’t a fit, and they’d miss Jrue on defense. I was told ‘Jimmy cooked Jrue, and Dame will play defense in the playoffs when it really matters.’
Dame on his best day isn’t the defender Jrue is on his worst. And Jimmy cooked EVERYONE in the playoffs last year, until he ran out of gas.
But it’s not entirely on Lillard. Middleton can’t stay healthy, and the bench is too thin (for various reasons) for them to make any noise.
It’d be comical if they send Doc packing this summer and bring in another Giannis hand picked coach. Maybe it’s time for Thanasis to take the reins…
Or time to blow it up and trade Giannis to the Knicks! (But realistically, OKC would have the inside track)
For all the love Giannis has gotten as being a different kind of superstar over the years, he’s going down a very familiar path as the others. First the couple of on-court/post game incidents, then pressuring his franchise to make bad trades. We all know what eventually comes after that.